Blighted Iska
by hunanyian
Summary: In a time of dark magic, a girl created by such foul arts is on the run. However, her past and the injustices of the world are about to kick down her door.
1. Intro & Lexicon

**Author's Introduction**

This story is a one, a fusion of Dark Angel and Harry Potter, rather than a traditional crossover.

And two, it is also set in North America, where I've taken up the idea that a Native American wizarding culture would have survived much more intact than their muggle counterparts, with a mixed Euro-Indigenous society/magical-tradition emerging. I wanted more than another transplanted British version (which is not to say a horrible or racist conclusion in planning an American Potterverse; I'm a huge fan of Alexandra Quick for instance). I just decided to something I haven't seen explored before and created a social conflict related to an issue other than blood purity.

Below is a lexicon for terms unique to my setting, as well as general Potterverse and applicable Dark Angel terminology. This list will grow as the tale moves along, with new terms and expansion of the definitions already presented. This is not to say they won't be elaborated on in the story itself. I'll write as if this list doesn't exist, but it will be here for any reference.

* * *

_**A**_

***Albiyaw** – Nahigua term for outsiders. Generally used to describe non-Miskehni; but also has connotations of being of non-Nahiguan/Native American (it's original definition).

***Animagus**- A wizard who can shapeshift into an animal associated with their inner-spirit/nature.

*******Aniihko –** Magically created super soldiers, who have the traits of various spells and creatures fused into their souls. _Blighted Iska's _equivalent to _Dark Angel's _Transgetics.

***Anu –** A magical race that originally lived underground in the American Southwest. They are renowned craftsmen of North America/Turtle Island.

***Asasara** – A cosmic snake goddess, worshiped by the alliance of dark wizards that overthrew much of the old wizarding and muggle orders in North America and Europe.

***Atiqakna –** A wizard nation in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions of North America/Turtle Island

***Avalon –** A Miskehna territory that governs over the eastern seaboard of North America/Turtle Island

***Awasis –** A cult/coven of witches and wizards who use the dark arts and worships fate through Asasara. They could be compared as a Miskehni equivalent of the Death Eaters; but are focused on the purity of Nahiguan magical use rather than a wizard's pedigree in regards to how much muggle blood is in their veins. They currently rule the remnants of the Post-Blight League.

***Awiyak –** The Nahigua term for a witch or wizard

_**B**_

***Blight** – A global calamity that was unleashed by the Death Eaters and Awasis, that shattered the Statute of Secrecy. It ravaged the environment, devastatingly so in central North America, and unleashed storms that had a similar effect to an electromagnetic pulse. Equivalent event to _Dark Angel's_ 'Pulse'.

_**C**_

***Capan –** The title of the highest office in the Miskehna League. Equivalent to a Minister of Magic.

***Chimali/Aurors –** Dark wizard hunters. In many European nations they are known as Aurors, while Chimali is a common term for them throughout Turtle Island.

***Cuahuitl –** A scepter, staff, or cane that is a common magical focus for Miskehni wizards. An adoption of wand use.

_**D**_

***Daboosh –** Nahigua term for dumbass

***Dementor –** Dark, ghostly creatures that feeds off happiness. They were used as guards for Britain's wizarding prison of Azkaban, but joined the Death Eaters in the Second Wizarding War (or the Great Wizarding War in _Blighted Iska_).

***Death Eaters –** An organization of mainly British dark wizards, lead by the infamous Dark Lord Voldemort. They were defeated once in the early 1980s, but had a resurgence toward the end of the following decade. In _Blighted Iska_ they won the war and are a primary faction in the web of Asasara worshipers that unleashed the Blight.

_**E**_

***Expulsiwin –** A song that explodes things. Miskehni version of the Expulso spell.

_**F**_

*******Fated Order –** The term for the Awasis government over the Miskehna League.

***Fireleg –** A wizard mispronunciation of firearms, commonly used during the era of the Statute of Secrecy.

_**H**_

***Hozah** – Incense that brings about an intense calming. Hard to produce and primarily used to ward off the Kinipek.

_**I**_

***Ikichi –** The Nahiguan word for slow. Used specifically by the Aniihkos as a term for normal humans, muggle and wizard alike.

***Illahee –** A Miskehna territory that comprises much of the American Pacific Northwest and British Colombia.

***Inbred –** A derogatory term for mainly wizards of Europe, and any wizarding culture that focuses on their magical pedigree.

***Iska –** A Nahigua term for magic

_**K**_

***Kinipek –** Serpentine spirits of hatred that haunt the Blight Lands. Similar to Dementors.

_**L**_

***Lumpeguin –** A magical race of merfolk. They control much of the commerce of the Miskehna League, much like the Goblins in other parts of the world.

_**M**_

***Maskyno – **Miskehni name for a wizard who specializes in healing and herbal magic

***Metamorphmagus –** A wizard born with the power to shift any part of their body, from color to shape.

***Miskehna League –** The wizarding nation that covers most of North America/Turtle Island, comprising most of the United States and Canada, with territories reaching into northern Mexico. Often simply referred to as 'the League'

***Miskehni –** Denotes an inhabitant, custom, object, etc. originating in the lands of the Miskehna League.

***Mugg**** –** Slang term for a muggle

***Muggle – **A non-magical human

_**N**_

***Nahigua – **The primary language of the League. It is a creole tongue of several Algonquin languages and Latin. It can also refer to the mixed Indigenous and European magical and cultural practices (and to a lesser extant, African and Asian), along with the main mixed 'ethnic group' of the League.

***Niiti/Nii –** pronounced 'Nee-tee'. It is a term of endearment often used for children or very close friends. 'Nii' is a slang term generally used for the later.

_**O**_

***Ohcitum Miterba –** The newspaper for the League under the Awasis regime, similar to the 'Daily Prophet' of Britain's Wizarding world. A mouth for mass propaganda.

_**P**_

***Patronus Charm –** Summons a semi-intangible being that can take on the shape of either an incorporeal force or into an animal representative, which bares a significant and symbolic connection to the caster. It is a difficult spell and highly effective against the dark creatures. Can only be used by those pure of heart.

***Pensieve –** A magical pool used to review memories. Aniihkos can relive their own recollections in a similar manner.

***Pukwudgy/House Elf –** A magical race enslaved throughout much of the wizarding world.

_**Q**_

***Quidditch **– A broom sport, popular in Europe. It involves players riding brooms while throwing a ball, called a quaffle, through goal posts or catching a smaller semi-sentient flying ball called a snitch; all the while dodging other semi-sentient iron balls that attack players. It is a very dangerous sport that has the popularity of football (soccer) and the violence of rugby.

***Quodpot –** A variant of quidditch popular throughout the Americas. It involves tossing an quod - a quaffle that will explode in a variant amount of time. The object is to get it in the opposing teams pot before the explosion.

_**S**_

***Shamy –** A pejorative for wizards/awiyak

***Song **– Equivalent to a spell in Miskehni magic/iska. Their incantations are traditionally sung, and the pitch and fervor they are delivered with effects the strength of the magic. A consequence of this practice has lead to Miskehni to generally refer to all 'spells' by this term.

_**T**_

***Territory** – A sub-national unit, similar to a state or province that the Miskehna League operates as a confederation over.

***Turtle Island –** The common term for North America amongst the wizards who reside there. It is commonly extended to 'Turtle Islands', to include South America (mimicking the muggle practice of saying 'the Americas')

_**U**_

**U'Katun –** A wizarding nation that comprises the majority of Mexico and Central America.

_**W**_

***Wand ** - A magical focus commonly used throughout Europe.

***Waskmos –** A song that creates light. The Miskehni version of the lumos spell

***Wigwam –** A domed dwelling made of branches and birch-bark. It traditionally housed many eastern woodland tribes of North America. Not to be confused with the tipis of the plains tribes or the longhouses of the Iroquois.

***Woimnayankel** – A Miskehni Territory that largely encompasses the northern great plains of the United States.


	2. Prologue

_**~Blighted Iska~**_

**Prologue**

_Nanabozho. He was a great awiyak, who the Albiyaw call wizards, in the days before the Miskehna League. He traveled the whole of Turtle Island. Going from the frozen lands of the north to keep the cannibalistic Wendigo at bay, to the searing deserts of the south where he claimed friends amongst the subterranean Anu, and traveled the watery paths of the mercantile Lumpeguin from one ocean to the other._

_After completing one of his journeys, he returned to the land of his birth, near the Great Lakes. Entering his wigwam, he called to his cousin who shared the home with him. There came no answer. Looking around for tracks to see where his kin went off too, he was startled to see the markings of a titanic beast, which could only be the dreaded Great Serpent._

_He snatched up his legendary bow, a gift from the unparallelled craftsmen of the Anu, and set off to rescue his cousin. Nanabozho was a masterful animagus, so much so, he could take the shape of any beast. On this occasion, he took the form of a wolf, tracking the monster through the forests and hills, until he lost the trail at the great river of the Mississippi. _

_Under its surface he discovered the home of a Lumpeguin. Nanabozho was well known to the merfolk, and she invited him into her cave. The awiyak asked if she had seen the Great Serpent. Of course everything has a price to the Lumpeguin, and she wouldn't admit a word of aid without a trade. It is only known to their people what Nanabozho gave her, but the tales say it was a great boon they jealously guard to this day. Accepting this, the Lumpeguin told him the Great Serpent had indeed swam up river to the foul lair where it twisted their aquatic paths and ate any of her people who dared transverse the region it claimed. She also allowed him to take such a path, descending into the underground flows that would allow him to journey in heartbeats in what otherwise would have taken days._

_The Lumpeguin path ended at the shores of a deep and gloomy lake. Calling upon his iska, or magic, he stretched his sight, and gazed within its depths. There, Nanabozho saw the burrow of the Great Serpent, which was surrounded by a mass of foul monsters. Lesser children of the Great Serpent itself. They coiled their twisted forms around the lifeless body of his cousin, filling the awiyak with rage. _

_Singing the iska songs, he cleared the heavens of any cloud, sent the wind to blow over other lands, and finally had the sun's fury shine fully on the lake. The still waters were soon stagnate and boiling with heat. Nanabozho enacted the last part of his vengeful scheme, and knowing the Great Serpent and his children would seek respite, he made his way toward the thickest hedge of trees hugging the shore. There, he applied the changing-paint, transforming himself into a withered stump, and waited._

_The waters grew so troublesome, it stirred the Great Serpent itself. The beast swam out of its dwelling, its irritation was as red as the bloody shade of its scales. Still, the Great Serpent was no fool, and suspected this was the work of Nanabozho. It and its children floated just below the surface, spying for any sight of the awiyak. Seeing or hearing no trace of him, and the lake growing ever more unbearable, the monsters climbed out. So great their number, the banks were flooded with a writhing serpentine mass._

_The Great Serpent itself slid toward the most coveted spot of the thicket. It was still certain Nanabozho was hidden somewhere, especially with his shapeshifting skill no secret. Its children scouted the trees for any danger, wrapping their bodies around each trunk, crushing their sharp scales into the bark. The stump, Nanabozho was disguised as, was not spared either, and it took every iota of his mighty will to keep from crying out. Satisfied it had outwitted his cunning, the Great Serpent laid its body out beneath the cooling canopy and soon fell into a deep slumber._

_Hearing it, and all its children's restful breathing, Nanabozho made his move. Returning to his human form, he quietly notched an arrow along the bow, letting energies contained within the etchings and bead work fill the shaft and arrow head. An arrow shot from that weapon could piece any substance; and this claim held true as it punched right through the Great Serpent's scales and lodged itself right into its heart. With a howl that rocked the earth and ripped trees from their roots, the Great Serpent fled back into its lake. It was followed by its frightful and confused children._

_Realizing the Great Serpent was dying, its children roared their outrage, and tore the still drowned body of Nanabozho's cousin to shreds. The Great Serpent as well, with its dying breath, used the last of its own iska to send the waters of its lake surging forth to take the awiyak with it. They cracked against the shore like thunder, spilling destructive waves across the landscape._

_Nanabozho escaped by taking the form of a bird. Soaring high, he saw the waters kept rushing forth, and would bring a deluge to the people nearby. Thinking of their safety, he used his iska spread his warning for miles, and sang to transmute their homes into rafts. The people piled onto them, making toward the high hills to wait out the flood. _

_When it receded back, the Great Serpent was dead and its children cowed forever beneath their lake home. Meanwhile, the people rebuilt their villages with Nanabozho's help; despite the devastation, they were pleased with the amiyak for ridding them of the monsters. Nanabozho, though sad his cousin was dead, returned home happy as well. His kin was avenged, the Lumpeguin paths were safe, and the world had one less threat roaming about. _

-from the Nanabozho Chronicles

* * *

_Albus, get Ariana. Aberforth, come sit. If you three do not settle down, I'll jinx the lot of you. Now listen, I have a story to tell you. Do you want to hear about where your mom is from? Thought that would get your attention._

_Alright then, so let's begin. The place I was born is called Canada by the muggles. Though for us witches and wizards, we call it the Miskehna League. Miskehna means 'turtle' in the main language they speak there, for we refer to the land as Turtle Island. The Miskehni are very particular on this, not considering themselves part of Canada, which is just part of the League's lands; they include the United States and parts of Mexico in this too; and then there's whole regions that are part of each of those muggle nations, but are their own countries in our world. You see little ones, many of the wizards there come from cultures far older than any of those muggle ones, and we take offense if it's suggested otherwise. _

_Unlike what happen with the muggles, when Europe began to settle its children on the shores of the Americas, us witches and wizards found less of a need to immigrate. Not to say none did so. Those who mingled their blood with muggles, or were born of them, had little if any chance to raise their station in life. So they would join their families in making the trip across the sea. But this was before the Statute of Secrecy, and the muggles, just like now, were jealous of our gifts. The worst of lot often found themselves over there too, thinking we were of the Devil and persecuted our people...Yes, just like when they came after you, Ariana... _

_Fortunately, the land's own casters took them in. The Indians were far more tolerant, and for that matter respectful of us. A custom the muggles elsewhere should have kept from the ancient times, and then your father wouldn't be Azkaban for defending his own daughter...but, back to the story. Again, unlike the muggle Indians, their witches and wizards were far less susceptible to the sicknesses and firelegs of the colonists. The two peoples, having a common problem, joined into one, blending their blood and magic. So the seeds of the League were planted, which they spread to the natives who had yet to lose their lands, and to those born of the settlers - whether the willing from Europe and Asia or the unwilling of Africa. My own family is descended from wizards of both continents who long ago intermarried. _

_This is why you'll find my people have some of the same practices we do, while others are very different. They like butterbeer and broom sports as much as we do over here...even though we like quodpot more than quidditch. Something I miss. Though, as I said before, they speak their own tongue of Nahigua; call their house-elves, pukwudgies; use songs instead of spells; and name their Aurors, Chimali...Well, this mostly use to be the case until the rise of the Ordo..._

_Who are they? That's a story for another time, my darlings. Don't want to give you children nightmares, now do we? But I will say they're as bad as muggles, and why I moved to Britain. _

-Kendra Dumbledore

106th Year Before Era of Purity (1892 CE)

* * *

_Yeah my niities, your grandma fought in the war. They gave it that fancy name of 'The War of Ways'. But no matter how fancy they make it sound in stories, a war is still nothing but death. I'll tell you the truth before those teachers fill your head with the nonsense of downplaying what a mess the Ordo made of the League._

_Now back at the end of the 1800s, there was a lot of dabooshes causing trouble. Some in the League, especially those on the eastcoast, in the Avalon Territory, had their panties in a bunch about the 'proper' use of iska. It figures, most of them are Albiyaws anyway, getting caught up with the BS of those inbreds across the Oceans. Instead of their 'blood-purity', it was 'magic purity'. I blame them getting mixed up in muggle ideas too. They were all about the lighter your skin, the better you were or some crap like that; believing it made you different races, like the difference between Lumpeguins and humans. Yeah, real silly to think about these days. It wasn't silly back then though, my niities. _

_Out of this came the Ordo. The Ordo Veritas to be proper, as if those bastards deserve any respect. They decided that we all needed to be witches and wizards instead of awiyaks; call on magic with wands instead of using our cuahuitl staffs or our songs and dances to shape the iska. They even wanted us to stop speaking Nahigua. Never mind that cuahuitls were our way of adopting their wand magic to our own. It's not like Albiyaws didn't have good ideas. Our League is born of both the red and the white, and the black and the yellow, to protect all casters who live on Turtle Island from the muggles hatred. The Ordo forgot this, and decided, no matter our complexion, we had to do things purely the inbreds' way._

_Their coup left the league splintered. That's why we ended up living in Illahee, since the western territories broke off. The rest were left oppressed under the Ordo's regime, declaring any who opposed their magical purity as a warlock, massacring whole families. By the 60s though, enough was enough, and we rose up, and those splintered provinces joined in to help our rebel brethren. Even Atiqakna up north and the southern U'Katun, who always refused to join the League, aided. After six long years we won. The Ordo was cast down, and the original League, and its acceptance of all magical ways, restored. Those tyrants who survived scattered, some even joined that mad daboosh who lead the warlock uprising in Europe; just goes to show how foul those monsters really were._

_Still, those in Avalon, who helped the most in keeping a boot on our necks, like to say it wasn't that bad. They don't want to admit to their guilt. It's lies, so remember that my niities. The reason you don't have a grandfather, nor much family period, is because of them. Never forget._

-Warisa Delacour

13 BEP (1985 CE)

* * *

_My investigation of the 'Awasis' is going well. I have managed to infiltrate their ranks quite successfully, becoming a trusted member over the past year. The coven is slightly more than a collection of awiyaks collaborating in their studies of the dark iska. They are a cult in fact. Their worship centers around a snake goddess called 'Asasara', who is more of an abstract deity, considered beyond mortal understanding. The Awasis focus more on her divine representatives, the Fates; this trinity of lesser goddesses bares more of a resemblance to the Gorgons of Greek mythology, or the children of the Great Serpent from the Nanabozho chronicles than the Moirai weavers commonly associated with such mythic terminology. I've come across similar beliefs throughout wizarding history in the Turtle Islands, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There are plenty of indigenous touches to their mythology though. An example of such is the typical owl motifs of our warlocks. They link the animal to the Fates by it being our messenger of death, thus deciding the course of our lives._

_The only other oddity present within this coven, is they are strong 'Nahiguan Nationalists', which is the best this philosophy can be defined. It bares a resemblance to the old Ordo, but they believe in the superiority of our dominate, and blended ways rather than an idealizing the wand magic of European wizardry; the Awasis utterly despises them, but the same goes for those who adhere strongly to any Albiyaw way. Bizarrely enough, The coven includes the tribal casters into the 'impure' too. Their creed is the mixing of our blood and iska has produced the strongest of awiyaks. Such though is a joking undertone in the League, especially against the 'inbreds', but I've never come across such a group who've warped that into an organized ideology. _

_In spite of these rather unique aspect of the coven, you can trust my judgment that it is a rather petty organization, content with whispering their religion's rhetoric in the shadows, justifying their denouncement of the government as a haven of 'iska-traitors and secret Ordo supporters'. They barely qualify as warlocks. A bully at Salem jinxes as much as this gaggle. It would be a waste of time and resources to continue further surveillance. _

_This investigation wasn't a complete waste though, uncovering a real organization of dark amiyaks, the Macatus Singers. Necromancers who run a smuggling ring across the continent. They have been trying to seduce new recruits from the Awasis, which I've feigned some interest in, and thus learned a number of the memberships' identities. Now here is a coven that requires the full attention of the Chimali. I will present a full write up of what I've uncovered at our next staff meeting._

Vigiles Semper,

Chimali Kiluvia Namowan

4 BEP (1994 CE)

* * *

_Rowi,_

_I know this is going to sound utterly insane, but after what I've been told, I can't deny it anymore. I swear by Nanabozo's mane, Kiluvia Namowan is a traitor. I've had my suspicions for the past year and a half, seeing the patterns, seeing her associations, but even then I didn't want to believe that of Kilu. I know it's not as if we've ever had Chimali go rogue, but never would I have thought she would. Never. We've been best friends since our school days, went through our Chimali training together, working side by side after. Out of anyone, you would have thought it would've been ME to see it right away. But damn Kilu, she always was a good actress, and one hell of a metamorphmagus. That cocky witch never let us forget that fact either. It's why she was always chosen for the undercover work after all. _

_This all goes back to '93, on the Awasis case. Of course we trusted her word on that goofy warlock cult being a joke; a bunch of wannabe dark hoods, reading forbidden lore, and worshiping owls and destiny or some crap. But she lied. They were the real deal. She converted to their cause and has been helping them since, using her influence to cover their activities and consolidate their control over the other warlocks, while baiting us to take out the rivals. _

_I learned all this from that slippery daboosh Caronkah. He was the one who came to me, begging for his life after crossing the Awasis one too many times. Laying it all our for in exchange for protection, with records and everything. Like I said, I was suspecting something was up, starting after I spotted Kiluvia with my suspect, Spheer, on more than one occasion. Then suddenly she cuts all contact after passively learning about my investigation through that gossipy idiot Yaxley. His rumor mongering helped in the end for once. Hell, Caronkah even said the Awasis have their tentacles spread beyond the League territories, to like minded bastards all over Europe, all part of a web that Death Eater revival group in Britain was weaving. He also said Fudge was talking out of his ass about it all being rumors, even about You-Know-Who being back. I don't know if Caronkah's full of it on the later part, trying to pump it up to make himself more valuable, but either way, this is huge!_

_It still bothers me that I missed this. It should have been obvious she was all into their Nahiguan purity, if such a thing could really exist. The signs were there, like her disgusted looks when I used a few Korean songs my mom taught me. Thinking about her family though, it starts to add up. The Namowans would call for the death of any warlock, they're patriots to the League of the highest order, but they can be as arrogant as a branchless Albiyaw family. They hate the Ordo as much as your Grandma Warisa, but remember how they didn't care for even Donzi's 'tribal' iska. Her mom made an offhand comment about it being 'unrefined'. Yeah, Kilu was the black sheep, getting kicked out of Salem and ending up in our shitty day school, but still, deep down, she always wanted daddy's approval. _

_But here's the snag Rowi, they found out where I was stashing Caronkah and got him. Nearly me too. Pretty obvious by the blood all over this letter. In case I don't make it, I've put all the evidence I have on hand with my raven. You can find more at my office. It's not enough to prove Kilu's a traitor beyond a reasonable doubt, without Caronkah's testimony, but it does show the Awasis is dangerous. Honestly, they might be the biggest threat to the League since the Ordo. I know you're not on the best of terms with the government, being a fugitive and all, but I'm begging you to step up nii, because I doubt I'm going to live through the night. Good thing I was too much of a workaholic to have more than a few one-night stands, huh? Otherwise I would of missed all this. Do it for us, nii, and for the family we use to be. The one Kiluvia betrayed._

-Sun 'Sunny' Jin

2 BEP (1996 CE)

* * *

_Of course I didn't know at the time, still languishing in my imprisonment at what remained of Hogwarts. It was all a blur as those bastards abused me…especially in front of Bill…But thanks to Luna and George, and of course Mr. Weasley, who fell freeing us…we were able to escape. We learned we'd been in that hell for over a month, while the Great Wizarding War had spread to the rest of the continent. It was still in the shadows for the remainder of the year, but sympathizers to the Death Eaters had risen, especially in Northern and Eastern Europe. We fled here soon after, bringing the fight to them. I wanted revenge, for what they did to me, my family and friends, and now my country…Then the Blight came._

_I am unsure of the exact specifics of whatever foul ritual Voldemort did with the Miskehni, and yes I will say that bastard's name without fear, but it had something to do with what they pulled from the depths of the British Department of Mysteries. Whatever it was, it unleashed utter ruin. We felt the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions right away, and the Ever Storms that followed, eating up the muggles' electricity. The technologies their science birthed died with the Statute of Secrecy. I heard in America the secondary effects were felt right away, especially at the heart of the ritual grounds, leaving most of the continent a waste. But the pollutants unleashed touched the rest of the globe to one degree or another. You are young enough to not know how it was before, how twisted the forests and fields became, withered until near death or twisting them into mockeries of their former beauty. It took great magics to rescue what we could, if at the very least to keep ourselves fed._

_It was utterly devastating, and lead to the new Burning Time, pitting all of us against the muggles for a period. It's why France and nearly Germany fell, and Russia made their treasonous compromise. In spite of these calamities, we fought on, convincing the muggles not all of us shared Voldemort's nightmare of their subjugation. And as it grew darker and harder, so did we grow darker and harder. I raised both of my children in guerrilla camps, hiding in the wilderness or urban ruins, alone with my sweet husband's death…And then watched what remained of Bill's family tuck tale and run across the Atlantic…I will never forgive them for abandoning us. It was nothing short of betrayal! I curse their names. Still, our perseverance held strong and we were able to liberate Southern France and throw the Asasarans out of Germany completely._

_And let me make it very clear, this truce will not last. Let the so-called Dark Lord and his boot lickers rattle their swords at my words, but I VOW to make them a memory. On the names of all those who've died in the Wizarding War and the Traitors' War that followed, they will have their vengeance, and through this we will again have our freedom._

-Interview with Fleur Weasley nee Delacour,

Minister of Magic for Liberated France.

14th year of the Era of Purity (2012 CE)

* * *

_To Adriana Cufroid:_

_Despite the setbacks under the tenure of Sanderman, Project Manticore must continue. It is imperative for the survival of the League and the Fated Order. Even though the Conclave helped preserve the truths of the Eternal Asasara, and gave us the power to bring both the iska-traitors and muggles low, all one has to do is look at the Blight to see this was a poor choice for allegiance. I know the inbreds' Dark Lord feels the same, but he is as mad as them. He cares nothing for the damage the Blight has left, and his subversive motivations come from a desire to possess our patrons power and control, not to secure the future of awiyak civilization. He is the next threat. This is why we are on our own, and why Manticore MUST produce results._

_With this in mind, my choice of the exile to head the project is nonnegotiable. This will be my final word on the matter. He has proven to be a reliable soldier. I know this does not come from belief in our cause, but we own him. He knows his kin live at our pleasure, and unlike his brother, this reality has made him utterly ruthless in furthering our ends. Any spies will look elsewhere with him in charge. Why put a former foe at the command of an important state project? And finally, which is the most important, he despises You-Know-Who to the point where he will seek an alliance with anyone that will allow him to kill the inbred. He believes Manticore's sole purpose is for the his assassination, and I've personally given him my promise of such. Weasley is the perfect tool for the task. I expect to hear not one more complaint on the matter, and reports of your utmost cooperation._

-Kiluvia Namowan,

Capan of the Miskehna League

4th year of the Era of Purity (2002 CE)


	3. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"_They only conquer you after they kill your mind."_

-Rowi Delacour, Leader of the Mongrel Soldiers

* * *

**15 EP (2013 CE)**

She didn't even feel the cold or the jagged pain of the ankle deep mixture of snow and volcanic glass her bare feet plunged into. The same applied to the frigid ashy air that bit at her olive toned skin and filled her lungs with every breath. Even if the harsh conditions of the wintery Blight Lands could effect her like the _ikichies_, or 'the slow' in Nahigua, they were the least of her concerns. What really worried Max were the hunters zooming overhead on their speedy military grade brooms. The riders sang the waskmos song to illuminate the night shrouded grounds of the barren, corrupted forest; singing it loudly to manifest a light bright enough to overcome even the darkness brought on by the ever rumbling skies. They guided the force below, charging ahead on their kanies, or the more properly termed 'kaninutara' - the giant, highly intelligent, and swift caribou-like beasts that were the preferred mounts in the upper half of Turtle Island. Halting behind a twisted and blackened tree to get her barrings, she could hear the riders closing in, and put a bit more speed in her step to cross a clearing. Aside from being able to outrun them, she knew the woods like the back of her hand; it was an extension of the only place she had ever known beyond lessons, memorizing every nook and cranny thanks to not only growing up there, but also through the ability to recall and view memories just like a pensieve - a mystic pool from which recollections could be relived. The anti-scrying wards infused into her very being also helped, forcing the pursuers to seek using their own eyes.

Sliding into a small gully, strewn by the remains of fallen trees, Max arrived at the rendezvous point. To her relief, over a dozen other children, half of her platoon, boys and girls with matching shaved heads and pajamas, rose from the natural cover to silently welcome their fellow Aniihko. Max hurried to join them, sliding beside their platoon leader, Zach. The light skinned boy, with a veneer of blonde hair, remained stoic as ever, but his blue eyes shinned with an inner joy at her safety.

It was less than a heartbeat before their sharp ears picked up one more set of fleeing naked feet, all glancing up to view another of their ilk reach the cusp of the hill. Their nose and eyes instantly recognized her as Jondy. Max couldn't help but let her glee form into the tiniest of smirks at the sight of her closest sister; the big eyed girl could remain up for days on end just like herself, keeping each other company after lights out in their barracks. Taking a spot aside her, Max's confidence of escaping rose, considering the two were separated at the beginning of their flight from the fortress. The distant castle of Manticore was given form by its internal lights, rising just over the horizon; not that any of the Aniihkos needed such luminance to make out their former shelter. Their former prison.

_But we still have to reach the Kinipek wards_, and thinking on this, the ever growing pounding of hoofs and whooshes of brooms shrunk this window of possibility with every passing second.

Speaking through his hands, Zach summoned them all to gather. To her shock, his fingers instructed they split into pairs and make a run to the wall, scattering. As he came to team up Max and Jondy, she refused. His face and firmly repeated gestures put iron into his orders. The irony of rebelling against their _ikichi_ superiors by making a run for it, but instinctively falling back into obeying Zach did not go unnoticed, but urgency left no time for further contemplation.

* * *

Two of his Chimali soldiers, dressed in warm clothing and armored in their pitch colored, enchanted Anuan-steel scailmail over uktena-leather padding, struggled to drag along a captured Aniihko boy. Even though he'd been obviously hit by a stunning stupefy blast, he was still struggling thanks the giant essence fused into his being, giving him some of that practically extinct race's resistance; this also strengthened his muscles, which proved to be another pain added to his captors efforts in returning him behind the strong walls of the fortress. It was just one of the mystical species bonded to the manufactured super soldiers his liege had invested millions of Chulys into. However, the boy was just one of nearly a whole platoon that had escaped.

Just to remind Manticore's red headed commander of this disappointing fact, McGinnis approached. The fellow wizard and head of security had his eagle motiffed, hoplite-style helmet removed, exposing his long, big jawed, and dark skinned face. "I've ordered a full review, from top to bottom. And believe me, heads will roll."

Stifling a growl, Ron Weasley - a tall and gangly man in his early thirties, still cursed with freckles, and warmed by an officer issued heat-enchanted, leather long coat - harshly replied in Nahigua, "Just find them. All of them." The words were mangled by his British accent, despite spending over a decade on the other side of the Atlantic.

McGinnis nodded, but gave Ron a disapproving sigh before heading off.

His colleague was not wrong about heads rolling. Project Manticore was an utmost secret of the Miskehna League's ruler, the Capan. He knew if the experimentation was exposed, there would be another Traitors' War; it was why such pains were undertaken to hide it in the utter wasteland that use to be the Woimnayankel Territory, or what muggles once called Wyoming. _And even if we can contain this, Kiluvia will have her own purge to keep that from happening. I don't even think she'll be able to save my arse this time._ His mind drifted back to his flight from Britain after the Great Wizarding War erupted, and how Kiluvia sheltered him and the remnants of his family. Though even the stir of a memory from his life before the conflict, about what the world, and more importantly, what he personally lost, brought about his monstrous cravings for pints of firewhiskey. _Get a hold of yourself, you bloody git. You still have much more to lose._

Adriana Cruefroid looked to him. She was his top Maskyno - Miskehni wizards who were masters of healing magics and herbology - and instrumental in helping develop the Aniihkos. The dark haired woman, whose face was a blend of European and Indigenous, common features to American casters, possessed infamous cold eyes; but fear had melted them away, despite the icy temperature. "What if any of them make it over the wall?"

Glowering, because Ron didn't even want to consider such a possibility, he made the painful decision and retrieved his wand. It was one of the few used in this part of the world. Aside from preferring their own focus of cuahuitls, engraved and beaded staffs or scepters, wands were also technically illegal under their iska-purity laws. _Stupid as my old county's blood-purity_, but even though he might personally object, the debate over such ideology had been decided long ago, and he'd seen enough loved ones die fighting in it. _At least you can learn to use magic their way, in theory. Can't change the blood that flows in your veins...All codswallup._ Such mandates didn't apply to him however, given his special position, which didn't endear him to many of his subordinates. He was sure this was Kiluvia's plan all along to keep him solely reliant on her for favor. In a way, the quasi-sentient mystic focus could be called a metaphor for not only his current situation, but the whole of his adult life; its construction from chestnut and possession of a dragon heartstring core made it not only as temperamental as he felt, but the curvy brittleness of the wand reflected his tenuous position.

Pressing it against his throat, he whispered an incantation that connected his voice to the snipers dispatched to guard the grounds' final barrier. "This is Weasley. If any of the Aniihkos make it to the wall, you are ordered to terminate." With their Giant essence, only a concentrated amount of stun blasts would stop them, but being they were children, a full powered shot guaranteed to bring them down.

The officer in charge nervously said back through his cuahuitl, "Confirming sir, you are giving the order to terminate?'"

"Yes, shoot them. I'll take responsibility."

* * *

Her orders received, the sniper, concealed behind a mound of snow atop a rise, raised her the expulsiwin rifle. The musket resembling weapon, with a snake motif decorating its length, was the standard issue killing device for the muggle members of the Chimali. Her's was longer than the common rifle, also lacking a bayonet, being it was meant for long range kills. Looking through the crystalline lens of the rune etched tube, magnifying her targets as well as allowing her to see into the night, she spotted the runaways.

The pair of Aniihko, hard to distinguish genders given their young age and sheered heads, reached the 'wall'. It was the common term for the powerful wards holding back the nightmarish spirits of the Blight, the Kinipeks. They were terrifying to gaze upon, seeing the large shadowy creatures stretch and swirl against the mystic barrier as if their vaguely serpentine shaped forms were made of drifting smoke; though if one let their eyes linger upon them, they could see their ghostly bodies bubble with screaming, pleading faces that appeared all too human. A whole host was drawn by the life energies contained within Manticore's grounds.

Focusing on her task, she aimed at the kids, who halted in awe themselves at the wall. Eying the miniscule ouroboros that marked the base of their necks, the sniper's finger closed around the trigger. _Remember, they're not really kids. They're just some shamy-made freaks._

Suddenly she was knocked over, but managed to roll with the blow. Rising up, the sniper snapped about, scanning for the assailant, her rifle following her vision. In a blur, one of the Aniihkos leaped out, simultaneously knocking her weapon aside and yanking it free. The butt of the rifle colliding into her jaw was the last thing she felt before falling into blackness...

Standing over the soldier, Zach watched his sisters, Max and Jondy, finally charge through the wards, getting completely ignored by the Kinipeks beyond. His little brother, Ben, being the curious delver he was, had been the one to discover this fact, suspecting they too shared part of their souls with the creatures born of the Blight; it explained their ability to sense life energies, such as the soldier he just knocked out. He smiled internally, especially for Max, knowing the fate they had in-store for her. It was the reason he launched their escape, unable to watch another of his platoon get dragged away to the Maskyno's laboratories, and again, especially her. His relief was short lived, hearing the kanies and their riders close in. Max and Jondy were the last to evade pursuit, thus it was time to make his own run for freedom.

Holding onto the stolen rifle, he slipped through the trunks, but ended up stepping into the sights of another soldier. To his growing annoyance, his ears picked up the sound of a second coming up on his rear. The hunter facing him shot his weapon. Using his enhanced speed, the Aniihko easily dodged, catching a glimpse of the harrier behind him get hit with the stunning level blast. Pushing his muscles further, Zach rushed to flank the other soldier, and smashed the sniper rifle into his skull. The blow cracked the weapon and head protection, sending another opponent into unconsciousness.

Not even giving himself a second to breath, the boy hurried to descend the hill, except he found a whole squad of Chimali waiting. Before he could so much as flinch they pumped his resilient body with over a dozen stunning shots, overcoming his sturdiness. Zach rolled down the hill as the assaulting magic coursed through his nervous system, leaving him completely immobilized and at the mercy of the enemy closing in.

* * *

Max flinched as a Kinipek flowed around her, stinking of rotting flesh and filled with utter hatred. Their touch aroused the all too common urge to hunt and kill in the girl. However, it was short lived, watching her big brother go down and become swarmed. Sadly, there was nothing to be done, and listening to the training that had been firmly beat into them scream, she left Zach behind. They would be endangering the overall 'mission' by going back for him, even though it felt like a chunk had been ripped out of her heart.

She joined Jondy in the world beyond. Even as they fled further into more, but foreign dead forest, Max couldn't believe they had actually made it. It was never her intention they flee Manticore, but she was dead anyways, about to be dragged away like Jack. Eva, Zack, and who knows how many other siblings of her platoon had fallen or been captured so she could live. She wouldn't let that sacrifice go to waste without one hell of a fight first.

The Chimali were eager to take up that challenge, hearing the awiyaks on their brooms jet ever closer. If not for their gifts, the children would have already been overrun. So caught up in putting one foot in front of the other, she hadn't noticed the cracking ice, sending her plunging into the brackish, freezing waters beneath. Jondy yelled her name, but the light off a cuahuitl exposed her position, followed by the air being seared by the deadly killing-level blast of expulsiwin fire. Her sister was made to make the same choice they had for Zach, and abandon Max.

Below, the submerged Aniihko felt her flesh mold, her body manifesting a Lumpeguin's gills along her neck, while skin flaps connected between her fingers and toes. Using the aquatic additions to push herself deeper and farther from the hole, she remained still as a group of their hunters assembled near the lake.

* * *

Not far from the wall, by a small ice covered lake, Ron landed his broom amongst a small cluster of other fliers and a few kani riders. The Kinipek had been driven off by the hard to produce, gingery smelling incense of Hozah, which had been waft over the area. The Blight spirits were creatures of utter wrath, similar to the life force devouring Dementors of his homeland, and could be temporarily chased off by a mixture of Mansa Root, sage, and what amounted to raw powdered calm. He often wondered if the patronus charm - the solidification of his most joyful memories into a totemic force - would work on guarding against Kinipek as well is it did on Dementors; but he greatly doubted he was anywhere near pure of heart to summon it any longer. The white smokey substance was good enough though, and so potent, it even left the wizard in an almost complete zen-like state, which did nothing to help him or his soldiers focus on the urgency of their task.

One of the soldiers reported to him, "Sir, we've got seven so far – three wounded, two killed."

_Three actually._ His mind shot back to the beginning of the escape. He'd been going over reports in his office, covering the daily training regimes, when the alarm sounded. Speeding through the enclosing walls of cold stone, he arrived just in time to see the Aniihkos burst from their barracks. They were crowded around one he believed was the female designated X5-452, but called Max from the names the children gave each other.

The wizard wasn't given much time to confirm his assumptions, seeing the Aniihko in the lead raise a pistol, which she must have captured from a guard. Letting years of battle instinct take control, Ron flung from his wand the same destructive energies an expulsiwin rifle could summon, bursting open her chest with a fiery blast. Seeing the dead body of one of his 'kids', as he likened them, was akin to having another bite torn from his heart; and here he had thought there was nothing left of it, eaten up by the world before he ever left Europe. So absorbed by the small body of X5-766 -_ no, her name was Eva - _it took the rest of the Aniihkos crashing through the windows to bring him back to the greater dilemma.

Willing through the effects of the calming powder, he wrapped all his frustration around his cold response to the soldier. "You've got a big problem if just one makes it to the outside."

"Well, realistically, sir, we're in the middle of the Blight. How far can these kids get?"

_Pretty far you knobhead!_ _Haven't you been paying attention to what we do here?_ "Just find them."

Unknown to Ron, one of his 'kids' had observed the entire exchange from the break in the ice. Max, seeing the man that had not only approved and personally oversaw the tortures to test their physical and mental limits, but also Eva's executioner, arose a wrath in her equal to any Kinipek's. The _ikichi_ didn't even hesitate as he blasted her with the killing song. She wanted to rip out of the ice and snap his neck right there, even if the vengeance cost her life. _But then Eva and the others dying would have been for nothing..._

* * *

**25 EP (2023 CE)**

...And again Max finished reliving the escape with her iska-enhanced memory. It also coincided with seeing another of her siblings die to keep her free. It finally answered the question if any other Aniihko managed to get away, to keep free for the decade following that chilly desperate night. Until this point, no matter how many times she analyzed her recollections, she couldn't find anything that wasn't wishful thinking. _Hell, the whole thing feels like a story I heard...like it happened to someone else._

She was no longer child of course, but at the end of her adolescence, a grown woman. Still a wiry female, just puberty brought on the curves all 'humans' of her gender earned, in addition to her nearly black hair reaching just past her shoulders to cover the Manticore brand. The Aniihko stood up from her perch atop the vacant Space Needle, a landmark in the city once known as Seattle, and gazed over the metropolis that was her new home, taking it in with her almond shaped doe eyes.

The disk-topped tower that she heard was once a restaurant, was one of the few high rising structures left from the Pre-Blight days. Presently, it was just another darkly ruin to remind the non-iska capable 'muggles' of the days before the existence of the awiyaks was revealed, and the following war of subjugation to them. The Skyscrapers of glass and steel were replaced by a mixture of Gothic and Salish-styled towers of wood and stone; and instead of a blanket of light provided by electricity, as she heard in tales of the Old Days, the current night was dimly lit by a network of mystically produced flames and waskmos songs. She was born of the Era of Purity, though, and much like Manticore use to be, it was the only world she had ever known.

The recall also reminded Max of how she would let her imagination play about over the fate of the others, coming up with fanciful stories. For Jondy, she pictured her sister growing into a photographer of the ruling Awasis's propaganda spewing 'Ohcitum Miterba' or 'The Fate's Word' in English; other times she even imagined her as an architect of non-magical construction. _They sometimes let muggles do that stuff_, because she knew pretending to be just another 'mugg' was the only way they could survive. _But who am I kidding? They'd be living just like me. On the run and always looking over their shoulder._ What she didn't like to consider, was that she was the only one to get away from that hell, that Jondy, Tinga, and Krit were all struck down like Zach. Finally finding one though had thankfully killed that cynical doubt. _But now he's gone...and I'm on my own again. _It also left her right back in the mists in regards to any other having made it.

_Look at me hoping. Hope is for losers. It's a con job people trip themselves into believing so they can avoid the cold hard truth._ Basking in the moonlight and the wind brought on by such heights, she continued her vigil over the once Emerald City. _Ain't that what they use to call it?_ _Not much green here anymore_.Despite how crappy it was on the streets below, with the majority of the populace living in the decaying shadows of the Old Days, Max knew it was hundred times better than Manticore, and so she hoped they were free and okay.

_I've managed to make it_, and on that thought, her mind drifted down the tale of how she went from nearly freezing to death in the Blight Lands to finding herself on that tower.


End file.
